The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown had me in love as soon as I laid my eyes on it. See, my other love is gardening. If I wasn’t blogging about books than I probably would be blogging about gardening. I’m not a pro by any means but I love gardening so much that I did get my Master Gardener certification which basically leads me to believe that I halfway know what I’m doing sometimes. What I love about gardening the most is the visualization. Taking a space and seeing it for what it could be. I hate bareness. I love creating something out of nothing. I adored every single page of The Curious Garden because it spoke to my gardeners heart.
In The Curious Garden, Liam is out exploring his very gray city in which there isn’t any kind of gardens, trees or greenery. Nobody ever went outside. Why would they? It’s dark and dreary. But Liam discovers a railway that had long stopped working and on the railway was the most startling discovery. A little patch of struggling wildflowers and plants that are in desperate need of a gardener. Liam didn’t know anything about gardening but he figured it out and as he did so the garden began to grow. It wasn’t content to stay in one place and so the garden began to “explore.” Slowly the garden began to overtake all that was barren and to turn the gray city to green. And more gardeners began to pop up as well. The entire city had blossomed.
I loved how many of the spreads were wordless. I loved the illustrations. They are just perfect. Absolutely perfect. I just want to pour over this one. Obviously, this book is about taking care of the earth but it’s not preachy. If anything, it’s about being thoughtful. About nurturing something and reaping the awards. It’s about creating something beautiful out of something that once was dreary and ugly.
The adult in me thought that this book was wonderful. I want it all for me. One that I will enjoy sharing with my boys and to let them know how important greenery is to me. And man . . . the illustrations are killing me.
Links of interest: Peter Brown website, more book blogger reviews, The Curious Garden is a Fiction Picture Book nominee for the Cybils for which I’m a panelist.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book. Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Little Brown. April 1, 2009.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0316015474
The Curious Garden is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Picture & Board Books
Tags: A-D Author, A-D Title, Cybils finalist, Cybils picture book nomination, Fiction, male author, published 2009
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My other love is gardening, too! (mostly veggies so far) I think I’d really like this book- wish you’d share more images.
on November 9th, 2009 at 8:35 pmI love love love the illustrations in this book! You keep giving me more and more to add to the kiddos wishlist, I don’t know how I will ever keep up. But thanks!
on November 9th, 2009 at 9:23 pmThis does look like a lovely book! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
on November 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pmOkay, I’m not that creative to see things in a space! I love gardening as in vegetable & fruit gardening, but not plants, flowers, and shrubs. I think that’s my farm upbringing from Idaho. We planted the family garden (5 times bigger than necessary, just to keep us kids in the family all busy weeding all summer), and then threw a few shrubs and pansies in the front garden. Sad, but true. I wish I had a better eye for it now. I’ll have to check out this cute book.
Thanks, as always, for sharing another cute book.
P.S. I babysat the cutest 6 mos. old tonight and had a grand time (fighting off her little hands from turning the pages) reading a small stack of children’s books. It really was fun.
on November 9th, 2009 at 11:10 pmThese illustrations are just gorgeous! This will make a great holiday present for my littlest niece–thanks for the recommendation and the review!
-Connie @ Constance-Reader
on November 10th, 2009 at 8:39 amThe illustrations are lovely, aren’t they? My library has ordered this one, but it isn’t here yet…
on November 10th, 2009 at 10:19 amReally pretty illustrations. My friends find it silly when I gush over Picture books . I always keep telling them that pics talk more than words.
on November 10th, 2009 at 11:22 amI also loved this book and that the illustrations had sort of a vintage feel to them. I was also amazed to find out in the back of the book about the actual garden in New York City called the High Line.
on November 10th, 2009 at 3:38 pmI have a framed poster of the cover, signed by the author. . .it’s just SO pretty.
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